Villagers take charge of 6 new water tanks

Bubumala community leaders and volunteers and SI Red Cross staff in front of one of the rain water tanks.[Photo supplied]

BUBUMALA community in west Guadalcanal has taken charge of six rain water harvesting tanks.

This followed a handover ceremony held at the community on Wednesday 23rd August 2017.

The tanks were provided by the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society’s Supporting Community Planning (SCP) project.

The community, which is located close to 30 kilometers west of Honiara is one in which water has been an issue for a very longtime.

Mentioning the general sentiment of the people during a small speech he made, the Chairperson of the Bubumala community Village Disaster and Climate Risk Committee (VDCRC) Alpheus Maefasia expressed the gratitude the community has towards the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society and the assistance it has rendered.

“This is the third year Bubumala community has worked with the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society and that we are very happy to be working in partnership with the National Society in this project,” Mr Maefasia said.

“Today’s handover marks another milestone for our village and also shows the commitment we have in working with Non-government organisations, including the Solomon Islands Red Cross in improving our own community,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society Deputy Secretary General Clement Manuri also expressed the Society’s thankfulness to the community for their commitment to having the project done and completed as expected.

“On behalf of the Society, I would like to thank you and also congratulate all of you, including men, women and youth of Bubumala community for your hard work in seeing this project through to success and completion,” Mr Manuri said.

“Your success now is a good example,” he added.

“This is with the fact that nothing is hard when there is cooperation and determination of all community members to work together to have anything successfully completed to improve the life of their community.”

He further appealed to the community to take good care of the facilities and also follow hygiene practices associated with the use of the facilities.

“My appeal to you now is to take care of these facilities and ensure they are functional to serve your water needs for a longer period.”

The SCP project started in 2012 and has been working in a number of communities around the country, including those on Malaita and Guadalcanal provinces respectively.

This year, the project is doing work in some more communities on Guadalcanal and in Savo Island in Central islands province.